Southwest Indian, member of any of the Native American peoples inhabiting the southwestern United States; some scholars also include the peoples of northwestern Mexico in this culture area. More than 20 percent of Native Americans in the United States live in this region, principally in the present-day states of Arizona and New Mexico.

The Southwest culture area is located between the Rocky Mountains and the Mexican Sierra Madre. The Continental Divide separates the landscape into the watersheds of two great river systems: the Colorado–Gila–San Juan, in the west, and the Rio Grande–Pecos, in the east. The environment is arid, with ... (100 of 6,641 words)